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I know there are a few ways folks put their hot blades in the quench oil. One is to quench the edge by putting the blade on a restricter plate and rocking it back and fourth. Another is to stab it in all the way point first, and one more would be to dunk it all the way under edge first. Is...

I was reading a post about Ht and someone mentioned using the wrong quench medium would cool the blade improperly and it would skate a file all day, but not hold an edge. I have gone back and searched and could not find that thread. Could someone explain this further as I think I have done...

I did a few searches and came up empty so here is the question. Can 304 stailess be used for a guard, or would there be some problems with working it or appearance. I am not very familar with many of the stainless alloys. I tried making a guard out of 416 and it was a lot of work. i do not...

I had another post that I got a lot of good information from, and it got me to thinking. In my quest to make the best knife I can I do an edge flex, cut rope and depending on the size of the knife, chop pine 2x4. I am new and get a few good results and a few poor results. The problem is I...

Does anyone use synthetic motor oil for quenching? I know this info must already be out here, but I did a search and could not find it. I switched form mineral oil to sythetic motor oil and got much better results. Guess i do need to get some real quench oil though. The motor oil is much...

I probably should have thought of asking this a long time ago, but here is my question. I have a small shop and use differnt size baking pans to quench my blades. They hold from about a quart to about half gallon. What would be a minimum recommended size/volume. The amout of oil would surely...

This may be a silly question but I will ask. I am new to forging and currently only have a small home built forge. I am hoping to buy or build a bigger one. I was wondering if anyone uses a temacuople and temperature display for thir forge. If forging at the right temprature and keeping...

I have a KMG grinder and it has a lot of exposed bare metal on it. Here im MS is it pretty humid and I am always fighting off rust. I usually wipe it down with some sort of oil/rust preventative when done. (trurecoil,CLP,triflow) What do some of you other guys use for this?

Just ordered a file guide from USA KnifeMaker. I am really hoping it will help me make my guards fit perfectly like the ones I saw at the Arkansas knife show. I have really been fighting getting those darn things to fit just right. The last one had just a tiny little line, but it wasn't...

I had a blade I forged and HT and it would only get 5-6 cuts on 5/8" rope. I figured the HT was bad so I Ht'd again. Still only 5-6 cuts. I looked at it closely and determined I may have had it a little too thick. I am new to this and that is my tendancie to get them a little thick some...

I have access to large amounts of Mesquite trees/bushes. I have seen some really nice mesquite handles, but do not know how to gather and prepare it for handles. I would think you would want the root for some nice burl and I would think it would take a long time to dry. I have no experience...

I am very new to knife making and wanted to know how you guys test your blades for cut, edge holding ability, toughness ect. Is there some sort of unwritten standard about how many rope or carboard cuts a blade should get or some other test medium. I know there are many variations, what the...

I had a 5160 blade that I was tempering in the kitchen oven. I was going to turn the oven off but got in a hurry to go somewhere and forgot to turn the oven off. The blade was left in the oven at aprox 350 for 4 hours and this was the 3rd temper cycle. Being new at doing this I asked some...

I soldered a gaurd on my blade and may have gotten it too hot as its performance is not as good now. Teh blade is 5160 3/16" at thiskest part of spine with full tang and I had almost 2 inches of ricasso. Has anyone tried the paste or gel they make to protect form heat? Would this be good to...

I am new on this forum and new to knife making. This is the third blade I have forged and thought I would throw this out for some help. I am working on a blade of 5160 aprox 3/16" at the thickest part of the spine and aprox 5" long. I did a triple quench in mineral oil. Triple tempered in...